Yes, Powermarks is still very much alive. Their most recent versions have been for making Powermarks work with Firefox. I downloaded build 387 early this year, probably to make Powermarks compatible with Firefox 2.

wreckedcarzz - perhaps you *should* add a "none of the above" option as there will be (probably a majority of) peope who do not use any of the listed apps and whose votes will not therefore be recorded. Afterall, the point of the poll is simply to get an idea of the most commonly used applications; a none of the above option will reflect this better.

"Some people have a way with words, other people,... oh... have not way" - Steve Martin

Armando, thanks for referring me to your other thread -- lots of interesting commentary there. The problem you describe there is EXACTLY the one I've been struggling with for over a year -- along with the additional requirement to track my growing bibliography.

I use askSAM myself, but now only for a database about Philippine monuments. I just couldn't get it to do what I wanted, when it came to my book research project. I'm now working with the new version of Biblioscape 7 -- now up to version 7.14, which seems to have fixed the bugs that were bothering me a few weeks ago. And, as a result of this forum, I've just started using WhizFolders, which I hope will allow me to bring countless word, pdf and data files together. We'll see...

Darwin, CbC isn't just for book start up. I was already well into my project when I discovered it. I cut & pasted all my chapters done up to that point into CbC. I've discovered that even at the advanced stage of my work, I still move things around a bit -- and CbC makes that simple. Also I like the chapter-by-chapter word count, which gives me a good sense of how far along I am. Perhaps the most useful feature is one I haven't yet needed -- the ability to meld lots of separate chapter files into one single document, available for serious work -- pagination, headers-footers, endnotes, indexing, etc.

I am still searching for an easy way to save "versions" as I move along with each chapter.

Mouser, will be very interested to read your evaluation of CbC after you've had a chance to play around with it.

I'm amazed at how little information there is available about the various approaches to the problems Mouser describes. Certainly, many writers face the same challenge -- but no one seems to have explored this problem and come up with several well-outlined options writers might follow.

Maybe we could move this discussion to http://www.donationc...dex.php?topic=9205.0(If you want to, you could even copy and paste your post over there?...)(Edit : don't bother, Tom : I'll just quote you and link your quote to this thread!)I will continue my reflexions over there.

It's not a question of being "hard" or not, it's just that nobody wants to spend time looking for software on Google when you don't even know what it's all about. Therefore, this link doesn't really give any information about Meskalin (no info, no download).

Yep, that's it. Sorry about stirring up this excitement about Meskalin. I was not aware that posts here are read that carefully.Meskalin is nothing but a little screen loupe I wrote for myself but never published. I use it all the time to check color values and other graphic details. It also has some interesting recursive functions that generate near-chaotic psychedelic effects -- hence the name. If there's interest I can post a download link (freeware, but no support, no help file!...).

Yep, that's it. Sorry about stirring up this excitement about Meskalin. I was not aware that posts here are read that carefully.Meskalin is nothing but a little screen loupe I wrote for myself but never published. I use it all the time to check color values and other graphic details. It also has some interesting recursive functions that generate near-chaotic psychedelic effects -- hence the name. If there's interest I can post a download link (freeware, but no support, no help file!...).

CbC essentially manages a book manuscript, which is kept in separate chapter files. This add in, which works as a small separate program, sits on top of Microsoft Word.

Once CbC is open, one enters a new chapter title, which opens up a blank page in Word, where one writes or imports a chapter, or at least the beginnings. Then start another chapter, and so on. Soon CbC displays in its window a list of all your chapters, all stored in sepapate Word files, including word count for each one. One can drag and drop each chapter into a different order, rearranging one's book. And if one needs to see the entire book in one file, a click of the mouse brings them all together in a single file, where one can do editing, paginating, change format to suit a particular publisher.

I'm working on a huge book project. I've tried so many different programs to manage the project -- and I always return to CbC. And it's free.